New Zealand: HamiltonJet Completes Its 10.000th HJ212 Waterjet Model

World leading waterjet manufacturer HamiltonJet has reached a significant production milestone with the recent completion of its 10,000th HJ212 waterjet model. This achievement cements the HJ212 as one of the world’s most popular waterjet models, and highlights the on-going popularity of shallow river boating both recreationally and commercially, both in NZ and around the world.

At 215mm diameter the HJ212 is HamiltonJet’s smallest waterjet model, and is most commonly used to propel recreational craft from six to nine meters long and commercial “thrill-ride” tourist vessels carrying up to 20 people. Waterjets provide shallow draught capability and enhanced manoeuvrability compared to other forms of marine propulsion, but the HJ212’s advantages over other waterjet models include excellent load carrying capabilities, simple and reliable design with low maintenance requirements, and high performance in a wide range of applications. Normally driven by a marinised petrol engine and fitted with a high performance HamiltonJet “Turbo” impeller, the HJ212 is well capable of propelling a boat at over 100kph in as little as 50mm deep water or the most aerated of white water rapids. Often a pair of HJ212 waterjets will be installed in larger and heavier hulls to increase performance and capability of the vessel.

HamiltonJet Publicity Officer Tony Kean says the HJ212 has been the benchmark waterjet for river boating for well over a decade. “It was a significant step for the company to discontinue its very popular line of multistage waterjets for smaller river craft and replace with a larger diameter single stage model. However, the market quickly embraced the new jet, and now, 17 years and 10,000 212s later, we can safely say it has maintained its popularity.”

The first HJ212 was built in February 1995, and was later fitted into a NZ-built sprint racing boat sponsored by HamiltonJet and Shell. Serial number 10,000 HJ212 is being installed into a 7m long Harbercraft 2375 jet boat built in Canada. The majority of HJ212s in between have been sold into the Pacific NW of the US, with many others going to jet boats built in New Zealand as well as Canada and Australia. HJ212 waterjets have also been installed into boats operating in the UK, Africa, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Chile, Dubai, China and many other countries where river conditions require the shallow draft, safety and manoeuvrability only waterjet propulsion can provide.

Based in Christchurch New Zealand, HamiltonJet manufactures a range of 19 waterjet models, from the HJ212 up to the 1m diameter HT1000 model, and has delivered over 49,000 waterjets since it pioneered the development of modern waterjet propulsion in the 1950s. The company specializes in waterjet propulsion for high speed work and patrol boats, ferries, SAR craft, pilot boats, crewboats and recreational vessels typically up to 60m long, and also manufactures hydraulic and electronic control systems specifically designed to enhance the capabilities of its waterjets. The head office in NZ is backed up by Regional Offices in Europe, North America and Asia, and is supported globally by a team of highly skilled distributors to provide local level sales and service of HamiltonJet products wherever they are operated.